The Moscow Times reports: Channel One’s mock news show “Yesterday Live” imagined what might have happened if City Hall had permitted the [gay pride] march and the two sides had gotten together to celebrate, in a surprisingly tolerant comedy sketch. A news reader in a satin jacket reads from a pink page against a gay rights flag. “It would be ...

The U.S. State Department has issued a letter condemning the arrests of gay activists in Moscow over the weekend. STATEMENT BY MARK TONER, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON Concern about Freedom of Assembly in Russia We note with concern that in Moscow on Saturday, May 28, a peaceable demonstration of Russians advocating for the rights of gays and lesbians, joined by international supporters, ...

“We witnessed a high level of fraternisation and collusion between neo-Nazis and the Moscow police. I saw neo-Nazis leave and re-enter police buses parked on Tverskaya Street by City Hall. Our suspicion is that many of the neo-Nazis were actually plainclothes police officers, who did to us what their uniformed colleagues dared not do in front of the world’s media. ...

One month after the city of Moscow granted permission for the city’s first authorized gay pride event in years, that ruling has been revoked. The reasons given by the deputy mayor of Moscow, Ludmila Shvetsova, is because of “the impossibility to provide security” – and a high number of letters of protests received by the City Hall against this event. ...

For first time since 2006, Moscow city officials have approved a gay pride event. Last October the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Moscow had acted illegally when banning previous pride events. Those bannings came at the demand of anti-gay former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who left office last year. “The Moscow government told the Moscow gay pride parade ...

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in favor of Moscow Pride president Nikolai Alexeyev, saying that authorities acted illegally when they banned gay pride in Moscow. City Hall was ordered to pay 12,000 euros in damages to Nikolai Alexeyev and a further 17,500 euros in costs. And gay rights activists believe the ruling opens the way for all ...

Although the mayor of Moscow has banned gay pride parades for the last five years, today activists defied riot police and staged two small “flash” parades without incident. Strategic planning by the activists managed to keep the events below the radar of anti-gay nationalists and neo-nazis. For once. Two Gay Pride parades were held without arrests in Moscow on Saturday, ...

For the fifth year in a row, Moscow Mayor Yury Lushkov has banned gay pride. Not unexpectedly, the homophobic Mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, has banned the march planned in Russian capital as part of Moscow Pride on May 29. It is the fifth successive year that the Mayor, who infamously described Gay Pride parades a “satanic happenings”, has invoked ...

Troubled Diva points out that the acronym for Russia’s riot police is the mirror image of “homo”, an irony probably not lost on the dozens of gay activists arrested this morning at Moscow Pride. OMOH’s motto: “We know no mercy and do not ask for any.”

In an embarrassment for Eurovision organizers, Moscow police are cracking down hard on today’s gay pride parade. Between 20 and 40 activists have been arrested at Slavic Pride in Moscow by anti-riot police, early reports indicate. According to a statement released by Pride organiser Nikolai Alekseev, violence was used to break up the peaceful march, which had been banned by ...

Gay fans traveling to the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow this weekend are being warned that extremists are planning to “roam the streets” of the city looking for homosexuals to assault. Via the Guardian UK: [T]here is now a distinct possibility that Russian nationalists and neo-Nazis will once again beat up gay demonstrators – as well as visiting Eurovision fans ...

Russian gay activists have asked contestants at this weekend’s Eurovision Song Contest to boycott the finals if Moscow police attempt to interfere with the gay pride parade on that day. The lead singer of the Netherlands’ entry, The Toppers, is the first to agree. Dutch singer Gordon has said he will boycott the Eurovision Song Contest if Moscow police use ...

Although they’ll surely be rejected, next week a lesbian couple in Moscow will attempt to get a marriage license. Public relations worker Irina Fyet, 31, and her partner of the same age will apply for a marriage license at a register office on May 12 in Moscow, a city where mayor Yuri Luzhkov once described gay pride marches as “satanic.” ...

Gay activists in Russia have been found guilty of “popularizing homosexuality” for demonstrating with pro-gay posters. A court in Ryazan has found the organizers of two public events protesting homophobia guilty of popularizing homosexuality and ruled they be fined 1,500 rubles each. Nikolay Bayev and Irina Fet were found guilty of popularizing homosexuality among minors and the court ruled to ...

LGBT activists in Moscow have shrewdly rescheduled this year’s pride events to coincide to that city’s hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest, guaranteeing them a global stage should the Russian government follow through on its promise to once again ban their celebration. Activists said they would ask contestants to support gay rights by wearing lapel pins onstage on May 16, ...

Gay pride organizers in Moscow remained defiant even after their mayor used a Eurovision ceremony yesterday to warn homosexuals to stay off the streets during the famously loved-by-gays song contest. The Mayor of Moscow has used a Eurovision Song Contest ceremony to warn gay people visiting the city for the event next year that they are not welcome on the ...

For the third straight year, Moscow’s mayor has banned gay pride. The homophobic Mayor of Moscow has banned this years gay pride event. The Mayor, who has referred to gay rights marches as “satanic” has outlawed the march which was due to take place next week. The move comes amidst a growing number of violent threats from members of the ...

The organizers of Moscow Pride have invited the mayors of Paris, Berlin, and London to their event in the hopes forcing their local authorities to allow Pride festivities to take place and to act respectfully during the events. The organisers of Moscow Pride have invited the Mayors of London, Paris and Berlin to attend this year. Last year’s event was ...